Chaz, the Python is not native to Florida and yet they still have them!! Asian Carp are not native to America and yet they are thriving in the Mississippi, and also the snakehead, etc. One day I came across a large yellowjacket that's body was almost as big as my thumb. It was taking on a cicadda at the time I interrupted it. Wonder where it came from? Japan??

The point here is that we should not let our guard down. And yet we should not surrender just because. Use caution as much as possible, and as Pat said: "Stop trying to be Superman (Superflyer)" get things checked out when they don't seam right.

Posted on: 2013/6/27 8:41

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"I am respected when I walk into any fly shop. Salespeople wait on me hand and waders. I once tried underwater casting just to see if I could. I am the most admired Fly Fisherman in the world. And when I fly-fish, I use the Orvis Access. Stay Fishing MF

Pennypack, that was a cicada killer that you saw, not a large yellowjacket. It's actually a wasp, and it eats out the insides of a cicada and lays it's eggs inside the body cavity. You'll see them dragging the cicada down into their holes, which you'll see as a small mound of fine dirt. Usually you will see several/many holes. They will not harm you. I've worked around lots of them without incident.

My technique regarding 37 years plus of on the job cuts, gashes, bites, and punctures from all kinds of fish in all kinds of water, but often in water that is receiving considerable amounts of raw sewage, farm animal runoff, and street runoff has been to squeeze the heck out of the wound, making sure that it bleeds much more than it would naturally. Nature's cleanser. There is often no way to treat the wound on the spot or effectively, as we have a day ahead of us with hands in the water. Despite this, and including at the very least almost daily puncture wounds when working with spiny fin rayed fish, I have only had one infection requiring medical attention (antibiotics - orally). And, the worst slashes from stripers in the tidal Delaware have never caused a problem except that a couple of stitches would have been necessary on occasion if I had gone to a Dr.

This time of year I'm more likely to die from heat stroke wearing waders.

On a completely unrelated note, I had an old (as in long time ago, not wrinkly old) girlfriend whose mother found a Black Widow spider in the bananas she got from the local grocery store. She actually made the paper for that. Anything's news up here.

Posted on: 2013/6/29 16:42

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Ephesians 4:32-"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you"

PatrickC wrote:As a guy whom treats these exact types of infections, I can tell you I think we are getting soft as a species. Antibacterial EVERYTHING leads to more and more resistant strains and we (IMO) are not building any kind of immune system strength from using all of this crap. As with everything else we humans find useful, we can't just use antibiotics when truly needed, we have to exploit the resource. We run it into the ground and then render it and ultimately us useless.

I see more and more infections from normal environmental flora that our own bodies should have no problem keeping in check. I still wet wade because I refuse to fly fish in a bubble. If it comes to that...I'll just have to die from it :-/

BTW, this was not pointed at JakesLeakyWaders. I'm just ranting. I have no idea how you got infected bro. It is becoming all too common, unfortunately.

Agree 1000%. I have been wet wading for 40 plus years. Maybe I've been lucky. And I never wet wade with an own wound. But I also refuse to give in.

Posted on: 2013/6/30 16:14

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"I used to like fishing because I thought it had some larger significance. Now I like fishing because it's the one thing I can think of that probably doesn't." --John Gierach